Drinking cup cover and baffle



Sept, 30, 1947 w. P. WACHSMAN DRINKING CU? COVER AND BAFFLE Filed July2:, 1945' 1N VEN TOR.

Patented Sept. 30, 1947 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE This inventionrelates to improvements in drinking cups, having particular reference toan insert for such a cup which will function as a bafile device toprevent spilling of the liquid contents of the cup when in use duringservice on 3 transportation vehicles of various kinds.

It is well known that during transportation on trains, airplanes, ships,and the like, beverages which are contained in various types of drinking cups are subject to being spilled during service. It would be verydesirable to overcome the difi'iculties and disadvantages attendant uponsuch conditions and this has been accomplished by means of the presentinvention.

A principal object of the invention is to provide an insert for adrinking cup having a plurality of wing members connected in spacedapart relationship with respect to each other and adapted to be insertedin the cup to provide bafile plates to prevent spilling of the liquidcontents thereof.

Itis another object of the invention to provide an insert for a drinkingcup having a plurality of wing members connected together centrally bymeans of a cover plate having a drinking opening therein, the platebeing secured to the top edges of the wing members to hold them inradially spaced apart position.

Another feature of the invention is to provide such an insert with acover plate of the type herein described wherein the cover plate willprovide a suitable planular surface for advertising and display indicia.

Other objects of the invention will in part be obvious and will in partappear hereinafter.

The invention accordingly comprises an article of manufacture possessingthe features, properties, and the relation of elements which will beexemplified in the article hereinafter described and the scope of theapplication of which will be indicated in the claims.

For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the inventionreference should be had to the following detailed description taken inconnection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of an illustrative embodiment of one formof insert for a drinking cup;

Fig, 2 is a plan view of a conventional flat bottom paper cup, having aninsert, of the type shown in Fig. 1, placed therein;

Fig. 3 is a transverse elevational view of the combination shown in Fig.2, taken along the lines 3-3 thereof, and looking in the direction ofthe arrows;

2 Claims. (01. 65'13) Fig. dis a plan view of a cover type of insertplaced in a cup; and

Fig. 5 is a, transverse elevational view of "the combination depicted inFig. 4,taken along the line 5-5 thereof, and locking in the direction ofthe arrows.

A preferred type of insert is indicated generally at In in Fig. 1.Preferably, such aninsert is made from any suitable paper stock and canbe a two or three piece arrangement connected centrally in any desirablemanner to form wing members II.

The wing members ll preferably are slightly tapered inwardly from top tobottom so that they will wedgingly, or frictionally, engage the walls ofa cup when inserted therein. Generally, however, they may be ofsubstantially rectangular configuration.

It will be appreciated that the wing members can be made from either twoor three pieces of paper stock, secured together, for example, as bygluing, in which event the arrangement can readily be collapsed forpackaging. This is a decided advantage because of the number of suchinserts which can be placed into one large carton for dispensingpurposes. However, it is also-within the contemplation of the inventionto provide such an arrangement as a single unit, such as by moldingpaper pulp into preformed shapes. In such a construction the wingmembers can be provided with vertical crease lines adjacent their areaof connection, if necessary, so that they readily can be made tocollapse for packaging purposes and easily opened into spaced apartposition for use.

When such an insert is placed into a paper drinking cup [2, as shown inFig. 3, it forms an excellent baflle arrangement which will preventspilling of the liquid contents of the cup during service. It will beobserved that the insert need not necessarily extend to the bottom ofthe cup but it is desirable that it extend a substantial distance towardthe bottom thereof. Because the insert wing members all have taperededges substantially in accordance with the taper of paper cup walls,such as those herein illustrated, they can readily be made frictionallyto engage the side walls of the cup which tends to hold them in fixedposition.

Referring now to Figs. 4 and 5, an insert of a similar nature isprovided having wing members 13 which are held in spaced apart positionby a cover plate M which can be secured to the tops of the wing membersin any suitable manner. The cover plate, it will be observed, covers thetop spaces between two sections only formed by the three wing members sothat an opening is left, as indicated generally at l5, to permitdrinking from the cup. This type of arrangement provides an excellentplanular surface for printing advertising and display indicia becausethe cover plate is always exposed to the view of the person being servedwith some beverage and it is obviously inevitable that such indicia mustbe seen during use of the cup.

The invention is not limited to inserts'of the type which can beaccommodated by fiat bottom drinking cups, or conventional drinking cupsof the type shown in Fig, 5. which will readily fit into the so-calledvortex or cone-type of cup as well as other drinking receptacles ofvarious shapes and configurations.

It will be seen that an insert of the type shown in Fig. 1 can readilybe placed in the cup by the user or by the person serving a beverage ina drinking cup by merely spreading the wing members and placing the samein the cup or receptacle before or after the same has been filled with abeverage. The cup is thus divided into a plurality of compartments andthe user can drink from any one of them. g

In the embodiment depicted in Figs. 4 and 5, the user can readily drinkfrom the opening indicatedgenerally atlE.

It is also within the contemplation of the invention that wing memberspermanently attached to the side of the cup can be utilized in such amanner that they may be folded toward the center and joined or not atthe center as desired. Folded, a cup of this type would lose none of itspackaging qualities.

It should also be understood that the present invention can be used onmotor buses as well as by roadside eating places rendering curb service.

Inserts can be made It will thus be seen that the objects hereinbeforeset forth may readily and eii'iciently be attained, and since certainchanges may be made in the above article and different embodiments ofthe invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, itis intended that all matter contained in the above description or shownin the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and notin a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the followin claims are intended tocover all of the generic and specific features of the invention hereindescribed, and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as amatter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent is:

1. As an article of manufacture an insert for a drinking cup comprisinga plurality of wing members connected together centrally and extendingradially, which wing members will extend vertically into said cup sothat vertical edges of the wings frictionally engage the side wallsthereof, and a cover plate having a drinking opening therein between twoadjacent sides of two of said wing members and which overlies the spacebetween opposite sides of said wing members, said cover plate beingsecured to the top edges of said wing members to hold them in radiallyspaced apart position, and said wing members providing baffle plates toprevent spilling of the liquid contents of the cup when said insert isplaced therein.

2. The combination of a drinking cup and a removable insert frictionallyengaging the walls of the cup and extending a substantial distance intothe bottom thereof, said insert comprising a plurality of radiallyextending and vertically disposed wing members connected togethercentrally and having a cover plate with a drinking opening thereinsecured to the top edges of said wing members to hold them in radiallyspaced apart position, said wing members providing baffle plates toprevent spilling of the liquid contents of the cup when said insert isplaced therein.

WILLIAM P. WACHSMAN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,362,354 Clovis Nov, '7, 1944562,440 Vandersall June 23, 1896 220,155 King Sept. 30, 1879 563,640Bauer July '7, 1896 584,937 Hilliary June 22, 1897 276,031 Hoif Apr. 17,1883 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 502,009 England Mar. 9, 1939554,823 France Mar. 10, 1923

